International Baccalaureate
AP/IB Exam Schedule 2008 | Summer Assignments
IB Application Letter
International Baccalaureta Organization Web Site:
Diploma Programme at a Glance

Within the State of California, there are over 65 International Baccalaureate Schools. Within the United States, there are more than 700 such schools.

One of those schools is Yosemite High School, serving the students in Eastern Madera County.

Yosemite High was accepted as a full IB school in 1997 after extensive research by the Yosemite Joint Union High School District and after evaluation and acceptance by the IB committee.

Students have the option of earning a full IB diploma, which is awarded from IB in Geneva, Switzerland, for having met all of the requirements set forth by IB; or the option of receiving certificates which are awarded from Geneva for each higher or standard level examination passed.

There is tremendous support from the students because they realize what the program can do for them. Basically, the program can do three things for students: Gives them the best academic preparation possible to go on to the next level of education; increases their cumulative grade point average because IB courses are five point classes instead of four points, and the program helps students get accepted by the best colleges and universities around the world. Some IB graduates start college as sophomores, thus saving the expenses of a full year of college.

The IB program started in Europe in the 1950s in an attempt to take a holistic view of students. This "Famous Hexagonal" has six parts: Language A (the student's native language of which there are over 300 accepted now); Language B (another language, requiring the students to be proficient in at least two languages (Yosemite High offers Spanish and French); social studies (two-year program at YHS is History of the Americas and Contemporary World History); experimental sciences (biology and chemistry offered here); math sciences (math studies and calculus / higher math); and a choice of a second science, a second social studies (psychology offered at YHS) or computer science, theatre arts, music or film. Schools can also develop their own unique courses for the sixth area.

There are few multiple choice questions on IB tests. The questions are all analysis, synthesis and evaluation. It uses all higher level thinking skills. In addition to the six curriculum areas, students who want to earn a full diploma have to take a Theory of Knowledge course which takes all areas of the program and makes the students see the cross-over. The students learn that they don't study in a vacuum.

Another part of the full diploma is the CAS program (Creative, Action and Social). The students are required to spend 150 hours doing things to help them grow as a person. This would be such things as, for example: Creative - writing poetry; Action - climbing Half Dome and writing a journal; Social - performing community service.

The students have to document these 150 hours of combined activities. They also have to write a journal and write an essay of how the activities affected their life and how they grew.

The final part of the full diploma program is an original research paper that is between 4000 and 5000 words long. It is a formal research paper.

The IB examinations are graded from 1-7 and a student has to score at least four to pass each exam. In order to earn a full diploma, a student has to have a total of at least 24 points. YHS students who have received full diplomas had well over that number.

For additional information contract Randy Hyatt, YHS IB Coordinator.

Yosemite students earn full diplomas through program
7/21/04 - Sierra Star